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30 Vt. 604

Lathrop v. Wilson

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided March 15, 1858

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1858-03-15

Assumpsit for money paid. It appeared on trial, that the plaintiff had paid a judgment rendered against himself, the defendant, and one Burnham, in favor of one Stevens, together with certain charges of the officer for the expenses of keeping the property attached in said suit.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1858-03-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently June 1933

1 federal appellate · 2 state decisions

10185818601870188018901900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1The opinion of the"court was delivered by

Poland, J.

¶2The contract or note signed by the plaintiff the defendant, and Burnham, was upon its face an attempt by all the signers to aid Jessup to get bail, and to secure some one for becoming his bail.

¶3*606The word surety, being added after each of the names of the plaintiff and Burnham, and the defendant’s name being first upon the instrument, and with no such addition to his name, we think the legal presumption would arise from the paper alone, that as between the parties, the defendant was principal, and the plaintiff surety for him. Br.t this was not by any means conclusive, and the real purpose and object of the paper, and the x-eal relation of the parties, might be shown, notwithstanding the addition of surety to the plaintiff’s name. The evidence showed, as appeax-s by the exceptions, that the plaintiff did not sign the paper by the request of the defendant, but at the request and procux-ement of Burnham, axxd it would seem that he was.in a measure induced to sign it on account of his connection with Jessup.

¶4We think the plaintiff could xiot make himself the defendant’s surety, without any request, and without his knowledge even. But the question was wholly one of fact, for the county court to find, and they have found that the plaintiff and the defendant both stood in the same relation upon the note, which we suppose to mean, that they were either both joint principals, or joint sureties, for Burxiham or Jessup; in either event, the one paying the whole, could only recover a moiety of the other.

¶5It does not appear but that the county court gave all px’oper legal force to the addition of surety to the plaintiff’s name, and we see no reason to doubt that its prima facie effect was fully ovex’come by the proof in the case.

¶6The judgment of the couxxty court is affirmed.

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